Downton Abbey: See Sue Johnston as her new character on set

Johnston will play Denker, Lady’s Maid to Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess of Grantham

The first glimpse of actress Sue Johnston filming on the Downton Abbey set has been released.

Johnston, well known for her parts in The Royle Family and Coronation Street, joins the cast as Denker, Lady’s Maid to Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess of Grantham. A role not for the faint-hearted.

The fifth series of the ITV drama picks up in 1924, with the cast seen here filming scenes at a war memorial. Johnston can be spotted alongside regulars Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary, Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley) and Elizabeth McGovern (Cora Crawley).

Johnston won’t be the only familiar face to guest star. Richard E Grant is expected to visit the Abbey as a friend of the Granthams. It’s thought he may be an art dealer going by the name of Simon Bricker. The Hour’s Anna Chancellor and Rade Sherbedgia (Eyes Wide Shut/Taken 2) will also star – Chancellor as Lady Anstruther (who Jimmy the Footman used to work for) and Sherbedgia as a Russian refugee.

There are to be eight new episodes, with a Christmas special at the end of the year, too.